That's what they say...

[unixronin]

NASA says this photo shows an unusually active aurora over the (handwaved, still unexplained¹) hexagonal atmospheric structure surrounding the south pole of Saturn.

Me, I have a different theory.  I say the Markovian gate at Saturn's south pole is being activated.

What's your call?

[1]  No, really, I'm serious.  We have no explanation for it whatsoever.  It's a complete mystery.  I personally suspect there's some kind of rotational-resonance mechanism at work, some kind of atmospheric phenomenon that would normally produce a wavy line of cloud features around the pole but which, by some chance, has fallen into some kind of self-reinforcing resonance; but as to what that phenomenon might be...?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Comments

[ithildae]

Shouldn't a Markovian gate be more accessible? If not, time to call Nathan Brazil.

[unixronin]

I seem to recall many of the Markovian gates being located on dead worlds that didn't make it in this universe.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Are you saying the rings are rubble from when a giant hex nut came unscrewed from the pole?

(There are, after all, many scientists who are a few varieties of unscrewed)

[montieth.livejournal.com]

Strange beyond words...

[skellington.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall hex shapes in spinning fluids published at some point.

I wonder if it could be a similar mechanism.

[skellington.livejournal.com]

http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060515/full/news060515-17.html

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

It seems likely, particularly on a gas giant where the atmosphere is in many ways more like a fluid than a gas. After all, Saturn's rotational period is less than eleven hours; that may well be fast enough, on that scale.

[wyrdling.livejournal.com]

i'm amazed i've found someone else who knows who jack chalker is... :)
(though i could never find many of those books, let alone in order. i want to read them in order....)